


Double Trouble

by Squarepeg72



Series: Quests [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Bartenders, Other, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:08:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23268220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squarepeg72/pseuds/Squarepeg72
Summary: Worlds blend everyday at the Twin Witches Pub and Shoppe. Can Gregory explain a mystery to Watson that has thrown Sherlock into a tailspin?
Series: Quests [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1741555
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11
Collections: Quest for the Ring to Rule Them All





	Double Trouble

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Quest for the Ring 2020 in Draco's Dean
> 
> Spell: Gemino, the doubling charm
> 
> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/148170750@N07/49884395921/in/dateposted-public/)

The Twin Witches was as interesting as it’s name. It laid on the line between the Muggle and Magical worlds. It was a pub and it was a potions shop, depending on what was needed. Gregory Goyle had inherited it from a long lost uncle in the years after the war. He had found it interesting that his pure blooded father had conveniently forgotten that there were squibs in the family line. Of course, the Goyle family tradition of exiling anyone who didn’t get a letter to Hogwarts was a shame, not something to brag about. Even when it was your twin.

Gregory had gladly taken over the pub and potion shop when he had inherited it. He loved the noise and chaos of blending Muggles and Magicals at the bar. He had discovered that the heart of any human was just that, a heart. Unless they tried to pretend that they didn’t have one. One of his favorite pairs of Muggles was a study in opposites, Sherlock and Watson. One pretended like he was cold and had no heart, just logic. The other wore his heart on his sleeve and watched over everyone who came into his life with no perceivable logic. Gregory had watched Sherlock show his heart when he had returned the favor and watched over Waston when he had lost his Mary. Just as he had watched Waston use stone cold logic to pull Sherlock out of the tailspin Moriarty has sent him into. There was something about standing behind the bar that made him invisible and trust worthy.

“Stupid man, wouldn’t know a good idea if it bit him in the arse,” John mumbled to himself as he limped up to the bar. “Hey, Greg, whiskey neat. Please”

“Trouble in paradise or work?” Gregory tried not to laugh as he poured the requested drink. “You look like he has been on a bender again. Are you headed for one yourself?”

“Work? Paradise? What’s the difference? Have you ever seen a teacup grow new life?” John shrugged as he watched Gregory set the requested in front of him. “Can you make it a double? I have to go back to that disaster. He sees no problem with experimenting in the same place he makes tea.”

Gregory tapped the rim of the glass and watched a second appear. “Will this work? Two glasses instead of twice the liquid.”

“How did you do that? John stared at the two glasses in front of him. “Wait, don’t answer that. I get a headache every time Sherlock tries to answer that question.”

“Just a touch of magic.” Gregory chuckled and tapped his nose. “Just what is the name of this pub? Think about it for a minute”

“The Twin Witches. Everyone knows that.” John huffed and ran a finger around the rim of one of the glasses.” Are you a twin? Or a witch? Just my luck, you’re like that curly headed know-it-all that has him chasing shadows”

“A wizard,” Gregory smiled as he tapped the glasses again. “This is a little trick I picked up when I was trying to survive a war as a teenager. If you can double it, they have less of a chance of finding the original.”

“How did you do that? She does things like that but it is usually while she mumbling.” John watched Gregory pick a glass and tap his glass against John's. “She says the same thing when he asks. Drives him insane when he tries to figure out how things disappear into her bag or fly into her hand. I have never seen her use this one.”

“Sounds just like a witch I went to school with.” Gregory took a sip of whisky from his glass. “Hermione Granger was the most infuriating witch. Drove everyone crazy that a Muggle could dig her way into the magic and do it better than some of us who had been around it our whole lives.”

“You say that so easily. Like being a wizard is no different from being a barkeep.” John took a sip from his own glass. “Aren’t there rules about that sort of thing? Worlds colliding and such? I mean how do you hide in plain sight?”

“People see what they want to see.” Gregory shrugged and set his empty glass on the bar. “ _Evensessio_ makes it disappear.”

John watched as the glass Gregory touched disappeared. “Did I just see that?”

“ _Accio speculo_ get me another one.” Gregory held out his hand to catch the tumbler that came to his call. “I use them all the time but people just think it is the barkeep mumbling as he works.”

“How many barkeeps are wizards in disguise?” John watched as Gregory went about filling orders shouted down the bar as they continued to talk. “I just thought you were fast and knew your space. It was that way in the field hospital. How many of you are there?”

“I have no idea.” Gregory shrugged as he continued to fill orders. “Many choose a life outside of what we grew up in. We just learn to use the magic to blend in. _Gemino_ is a barkeep’s best friend when the liquor or time is running low. Twice the drinks in half the time.”

“Can you give me five minutes?" Gregory watched a small smile curl John’s lips as he asked the question. “I think I know what happened in Sherlock’s kitchen but I will need your help to prove it.”

“The doubling stuff in the teacup?” Gregory asked as he raised an eyebrow and pointed at the two whiskey neats that now sat in front of John. “Did Sherlock’s girl leave her special teacup behind? She is never one to leave anything behind unless she was using it to prove a point.”

“Or to explain the unexplainable.” John chuckled and turned on his stool. “He was ranting about there being no logical explanation for the things she could pull from her bag or the way she made his favorite smoking jacket disappear. Maybe he needs a little lesson in believing what you cannot see or explain.”

“We aim to please at the Twin Witches,” Gregory’s laughter followed John as he headed for the door. “I'll just have those glasses ready. Sherlock is never going to believe this.”

Gregory watched the door swing shut behind John as he left the pub. Raising his glass, he addressed the faded picture of a barkeep. “Thanks, Uncle Jonah. For this gift and this life. May my dad every regret he forgot his twin”


End file.
